In the steel industry, large coils of steel sheet stock are transported within industrial areas for delivery to factories for manufacturing automobiles and appliances. It is important that the steel or other goods be protected from the environment, so as to prevent corrosion that would interfere with painting and finishing operations during manufacture of automobiles and appliances.
The size of the goods is large, and it is therefore necessary that a large cover be fabricated to totally enclose the goods being transported. Due to the size of the cover, a motor and a drive system is necessary to drive the cover sections between an open and a closed position.
A prior art system used a stationary cover section and two movable cover sections to form a telescoping cover assembly. Due to the size and weight of the cover sections, a problem has developed in that the cover sections may be derailed from the tracks on which they run.
It is also desired to provide for smoother opening and closing of the cover and for greater power and balance in the drive system. In prior systems, a drive chain extended down only one side of the trailer bed. The cover sections tended to be pulled ahead on one side compared to the other which made for less than a smooth linear movement of the telescoping cover sections.